This invention relates to a support block assembly for use in supporting large and heavy cylindrical rolls and similar shapes, to prevent the rolls from engaging and rolling on a floor surface.
Very large and heavy rotatable cylindrical rolls are used as part of the equipment for manufacturing paper in paper mills. After the rolls have been used in the paper making process their cylindrical surfaces become uneven due to wear of the cylindrical surfaces and due to particles of the paper material adhering to the cylindrical surfaces. The rolls must be removed from the related equipment and the outside cylindrical surfaces of the cylindrical rolls must be ground or otherwise refinished so as to remove imperfections in the faces of the rolls and the associated bearings and other elements replaced and repaired. Most paper mills have spare rolls which are new or which have been refinished and which are stored for future use. Occasionally, the spare rolls which are worth several hundred thousand dollars each which have been refinished and are ready for use are stored on old wooden blocks or other relatively soft materials, so as to avoid having the finished rolls engage the floor surface or inadvertently roll across a floor surface. The items used to support the spare rolls usually are unreliable in that when a roll is being placed on a support item, the weight and shape of the roll may cause the support item to slide out of position or the roll may tend to roll off of the support item. Additionally, in order to support a single roll, it is desirable to have supports at each end of the roll, with the supports being of similar size and shape so that the roll is supported in a horizontal attitude, without one end being positioned higher or lower than the other end.
In some instances, the replacement rolls for a paper mill are of different sizes, requiring different types of supports to properly store the rolls. Thus, there are times when the proper size and shape of roll supports are not available to support a roll, and the mill personnel must improvise by using wrong size supports, etc., or by placing a roll directly on the floor surface.